Tag Archives: The Writer’s Center

“Chesapeake Views” – Blink of an eye

24 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by in Chesapeake Bay, CHESAPEAKE VIEWS - CATCHING THE LIGHT, Maryland, Photography, Writing

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another book review of Chesapeake Views – Catching the Light. Thank you to Dara McBride, Feature Editor at The Cecil Whig, for the current article.

Chesapeake Sunrise, at Thomas Point Light

Chesapeake at Dawn, Thomas Point Light –  One of the images before the cover shot for the book.   Click on the image for a full view

This is the third consecutive book review and interview by an editor recently, all unsolicited. As a photographer and writer, I’m delighted.  In fairness, I must give most of the credit to the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay region. My contribution is a click of the shutter, a blink of the eye.

The published interview follows:

Photographer Wilson Wyatt catches Chesapeake moments                               By Dara McBride, dmcbride@cecilwhig.com | Wednesday, February 19, 2014

ST. MICHAELS — At just the right moment, with just the right light, photographer Wilson Wyatt can get the shot no one else can.

Out of 27 photographers taking photos of the Thomas Point Shoal Light, the historical Chesapeake Bay lighthouse, at dawn one morning, Wyatt walked away with the award-winning shot. After waiting for the sun to hit the roofline of the lighthouse, Wyatt captured the meeting of a cruise ship and tanker as they sky turned tangerine.

“Photography, for me, is purely a pursuit of beauty,” said Wyatt, 70, of St. Michaels. “A pursuit of passion and beauty, those are the things that make life worthwhile.”

The Chesapeake region has its own unique beauty, one that Wyatt has tried to capture as a photographer in his latest book, “Chesapeake Views — Catching the Light.” The scene of the Thomas Point Shoal Light, which won the Nikon Mentor Series “Best of Maryland” photo, is the cover of the book.

For area residents, the book is filled with familiar sights of the Eastern Shore, of lighthouses, sailboats and sunsets over water. The tabletop book includes 82 color images taken of the Chesapeake and Eastern Shore region. Also included in the book is information on where and how many of the images were taken.

Enchanted by the bay area, Wyatt and his wife decided to move to the Chesapeake region about 15 years ago.

Although now a skilled photographer, Wyatt started on the other side of communications: writing.

He started his career as a reporter and feature writer at The Courier-Journal in Kentucky and, intrigued by the skill of the newspaper’s photographers, took up photography as a hobby. He said he learned photography by studying the works of others and critique from mentors.

Over the years he has balanced both photography and writing. Right now, he is executive editor of literary journal The Delmarva Review and is active on the board of The Writer’s Center, in the Washington, D.C. area.

Today, he’s the one teaching the photography skills. As president of the Academy for Lifelong Learning at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, he leads spring classes in beginner and intermediate digital photography. He reminds himself and students that photography can be a demanding art.

Wyatt focuses on light in his series of Chesapeake photos. Photography is more than pointing a camera and pushing a button, he said. Photography is about catching light, the colors that make up a scene, how light bounces off clouds and waiting for the moment for it all to come together.

“I am definitely a morning person,” Wyatt said, commenting on his favorite time of the day to shoot. There are three stages of light to shoot in the morning, he explained: predawn light, the reflection on clouds before sunrise and the sunrise itself.

Photography is “a constant discovery,” Wyatt said.

“It’s always a challenge, and I wish I could go back and take many of the photos I took years ago again because I’ve gotten better,” said Wyatt.

In addition to “Chesapeake Views,” Wyatt has published another hardback book of his color photography in 2011, “Yosemite – Catching the Light.” He also publishes a blog on his experiences, Writing & Photography – the Art of Words and Images, at www.wilsonwyattjr.com.

For the full article in The Cecil Whig, go to:

http://www.cecildaily.com/features/arts_and_culture/article_c308bfd6-a792-59d1-8f7f-3c7334e2ed9f.html

Book Availability:

‘Chesapeake Views—Catching the Light,’ is available at Talbot County Public Libraries, the News Center, in Easton, MD and Mystery Loves Company, in Oxford, MD. For more information about signed copies of the book, contact the author directly by email at: wwwyatt2@gmail.com.

November Reflection, from "Chesapeake Views - Catching the Light" - click on image for a larger view

November Reflection, from “Chesapeake Views – Catching the Light”    click on image for a larger view

The Delmarva Review’s sixth edition honored by a reading at The Writer’s Center

11 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in Maryland, The Delmarva Review, Writing

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Delmarva Review, Volume 6 - print and digital editions

The Delmarva Review, Volume 6, 2013 in print and digital editions – Cover photograph by Christopher Woods   click on image for larger view

There wasn’t an empty chair as five authors took to the podium and read their writing from the new edition of The Delmarva Review, a journal publishing compelling literary prose and poetry. The venue was perfect. The Writer’s Center, in Bethesda, Maryland, is known as a special “home” to many writers. As one of the premier writers’ centers in the country, it welcomes and supports literary work (www.writer.org).

The authors had never read together before, but their performances were so complementary that, taken together, one might think they were choreographed.  They read to an attentive, responsive audience that packed the house.  It was a memorable literary event.

As executive editor, I am thankful for our five reading authors: fiction author Margaret Adams, of Baltimore, poet Judith Bowles, of Chevy Chase, MD, fiction author Ru Freeman, of the Philadelphia area, poet E. Laura Golberg, of Washington, DC, and essayist Ron Capps, Of Washington, DC.

There is something magical to all of us as editors when we experience a reading. The words jump off the page as we hear the author’s unique voice…live.  It often reveals a new dimension of the author’s deepest intentions.

The event was Sunday, the day before Veteran’s Day.  Appropriate to the occasion, the last presenter was Ron Capps, a soldier, Foreign Service officer, and a combat veteran of five recent wars. He founded the Veterans Writing Project (http://veteranswriting.org).  Mr. Capps delivered his stirring personal essay, “Writing My Way Home.”

The Delmarva Review, Vol. 6, is published by the Eastern Shore Writers Association to encourage and inspire literary writing.  Print issues can be ordered through the website: www.delmarvareview.com.  A digital edition for download to popular electronic reading devices is available at www.Amazon.com.

The submissions period for Volume 7 is open until February 28, 2014.  All writers, please see the Guideline page on the website.

Ron Capps, founder of the Veterans Writing Project, reading his essay in The Delmarva Review

Ron Capps reading his personal essay, “Writing My Way Home”                                    – photos by Wilson Wyatt

Fiction author Margaret Adams reading "Undertow"

Fiction author Margaret Adams reading “Undertow”

Fiction author Ru Freeman reading "Departure"

Fiction author Ru Freeman reading “Departure”

Poet E. Laura Golberg reading "The Solitary Farmer"

Poet E. Laura Golberg reading “The Solitary Farmer” and “Lockport Caves for Vita”

Poet Judith Bowles, who read "The Instrument" and "My Parkinson's and I attend my 50th Reunion"

Poet Judith Bowles, who read “The Instrument” and “My Parkinson’s and I attend my 50th Reunion”

A Choice…entertainment tonight, or poetry to inspire me for the rest of my life – Richard Blanco’s “One Today”

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in Aging and Freedom, Inspiration, Poetry, The Future, Uncategorized, Writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

_WWW3426web

I had that choice this week…one of those times to pick between the ordinary and the extraordinary.  I could have seen a good movie or a play or a show on TV.  Nothing wrong with that.  Today, entertainment is only a “click” away.

But, instead, we drove two hours to a special reading of a poem.  To hear Richard Blanco, the fifth Inaugural Poet in history, read from his personal poetry and “One Today,” the poem he wrote for the nation…at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration.  I knew this would be unique, rarely to be repeated in a small gathering, as the poet told his story.  Another emigrant making an indelible contribution to the United States.

My wife and I attended…no, we listened…at a special gathering orchestrated by The Writer’s Center, in Bethesda.  The poet, one of the Center’s former teachers, told his remarkable story.  These were the words behind the words…some of the raw history behind the music of his poetry.

Richard Blanco has been acclaimed in poetry circles, winning praise and awards, but now he is known as one of the few poets to be celebrated on the world stage.  This would be a distinctive experience, one of those times I could place delicately in my memory, offering inspiration on demand…a gift that keeps on giving.

From the ending of his poem, “One Today”

We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight

of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always, always

Home, always under one sky, our sky. And always

One moon like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop

And every window, one country—all of us—

Facing the stars. Hope—a new constellation waiting

For us to map it, waiting for us to name it—together.

# # #

A special “thank you” to my friends at The Writer’s Center, “one home,” a writer’s home, for creating this personal opportunity.

Inspiration is both soothing and awakening

10 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by in Inspiration, Photography, Writing

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Inspiration - click on image for a larger view

Morning Silence – click on image for a larger view

It has been a good week. A lot of volunteer tasks are getting done… various things for the Eastern Shore Writers Association, some photos for a book on the War of 1812, preparing a photography course, finished a writer’s blog interview, and contributing to a workshop project for The Writer’s Center…but one I overlooked was my own inspiration and creativity. That happens to us, doesn’t it? Time is a fickle mistress, sometimes revealing, but often steeped in denial.

That came to an end yesterday.  I was blessed to be with other writers listening to a poet and friend, Anne Colwell, speak on “poetic thought.”  Her remarks struck a chord with me.  Whether writing prose or poetry, much of an author’s voice comes from the sound and flow of language.  It is that wonderful music that creates lasting images in our memories.  One can extend that to photographic art.  Even in silence, the image creates its own cadence within us.  It is the magic of the artist’s voice.

I hope to carry this inspiration with me into the week ahead…soothed and awakened.